Paralinguistic and Prosodic Impact on Stuttering

Speech production requires the integration of segmental properties (i.e., sounds within words) and suprasegmental properties. Suprasegmental properties include the prosodic [Page 1312]characteristics of speech production (rhythm, pitch, stress, tone, tempo, rate, loudness) and the paralinguistic characteristics of speech production (emotional state, speaking style, vocal quality). The examination of suprasegmental information in stuttering research has focused primarily on the role of syllabic stress in syllable-timed or stress-based languages. Historically, stuttered speech has been observed to co-occur with syllabic stress. This observation has prompted the development of several theoretical models of stuttering to account for the potential role of suprasegmental properties during speech production in individuals who stutter. Many theorists propose temporal dyssynchrony during speech planning or production due to the delayed retrieval of segmental properties and/or ...